


Kneel

by Demerite



Series: Trektober 2019 [29]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kneeling, M/M, Meta, weird traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-12 23:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21234521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demerite/pseuds/Demerite
Summary: Jim looks around the Bridge.Bones and Sulu are already kneeling.As he looks over the other stations, every other officer on the Bridge kneels, one after the other. That settles it then. They've accepted his authority, he is their captain now.





	Kneel

**Author's Note:**

> For the Day 30 Prompt: BDSM, but in typical Demi fashion, I've subverted the prompt and instead gone for "looks kinky, actually isn't" because I'm just Like That apparently.
> 
> Also, y'all, it's Day 30 of writing 1k+ words every day, I'm tired. So today you get a fic snippet and some meta!

There's an old tradition in Starfleet. Nobody's entirely sure where it came from anymore, although people have spent hours trying to work it out, delving into history books and records and compiling theories and arguing late into the night. There are more rumours and theories about it than there are planets in the Federation, many of them more ridiculous than the last. Many of them are overblown and over-sexualised, taken out of proportion by cadets trying to scare their year mates at the Academy. 

It's not a tradition that all captains keep, but most still do. Those who have abandoned it are few and far between. Jim hadn't decided what he was going to do about it when he took command of the _Enterprise _from Spock, but before he could make the decision, he was standing on the Bridge, out of breath and still bleeding a bit, and blindly wondering what the fuck was going on. 

"I sure hope you know what you're doing, _Captain_." Uhura snarled in his direction from where she's standing at the comms station, and then she isn't standing anymore, but dropping smoothly to her knees, her head bent to look at the deck plating in front of her, avoiding his gaze. 

Jim looks around the Bridge. Bones and Sulu are already kneeling. As he looks over the other stations, every other officer on the Bridge kneels, one after the other. 

That settles it then. They've accepted his authority, he is their captain now. 

It really sinks in when, a short while later, Spock comes back to the Bridge, kneels in front of Jim, and offers to confirm Chekov's calculations. Jim hadn't been expecting him, he'd kind of assumed Spock would spend the rest of his time in his quarters, writing a report to Starfleet damning Jim for everything he's done. But at this stage, Jim will take any help he can get. If they're going to survive this, he needs to. 

~*~

They're on-course for earth - it will take them a couple of weeks, but at least they're on their way, and Jim finally feels like he can hand over the conn to someone else to get some sleep, if only for a few hours. But there's something he has to do first.

Bones isn't in sickbay. The nurses tell him they chased him out before he collapsed from exhaustion, and one of them gives him directions to his quarters. Jim would have run, but he's so tired he can barely muster the strength to _walk _there.

“Someone had better be-” Bones snaps when he opens the door, until he sees that it’s Jim standing in front of him.

“Bones.” Is all Jim manages, before he’s grabbed and dragged into the dim room, wrapped in strong arms and pressed against a broad chest.

He clings, for a few moments, breathes slow and deep and just holds on, reminds himself that it's okay, they made it out alive, Bones is alive, it's whatever happens next, they'll go into it together.

Jim's already made a decision about what he wants to do next. With one final breath, he slips out of Bones' arms, and drops to his knees, the movement stiff and jerky from exhaustion. 

Bones' starts, tries to catch him until he realises that Jim isn't falling. 

"Jim," He starts, "What are-"

"Bones." Jim murmurs, his voice soft, not looking up at him, "I need you to know that I trust you. That I'd follow you anywhere." 

Bones is silent for a moment, and Jim looks up at him through his lashes. 

"Jim," Bones says again, "I should...I should be the one kneeling to you. You're the captain." 

"That's not what this is about." Jim shakes his head. Why won't Bones get it? "This is just about us." 

Bones is silent again, "Okay." He says finally, and then he adds, "Does this mean you'll finally start listening to me?" 

Jim can't help but laugh. 

~*~

In essence, officers don't kneel to just anyone, just because someone outranks them doesn't mean they can request it (unless they're a captain/commanding officer of above). Typically officers will kneel for their captain, and their department head (ie. Medical staff would kneel for the CMO, but science staff wouldn't, Engineers would kneel for the chief engineer, but communications and security officer wouldn't). Cadets over eighteen are not expected to kneel _unless _they're serving on an active-duty starship. 

It's intended as a show of respect and trust towards the person for whom you are kneeling , to demonstrate that you're willing to take orders and to trust them. 

Jim is the captain, so he doesn't publicly kneel for anyone. The one - and only - time he's knelt in public had been to receive command of the _Enterprise _from Pike. In private, he kneels for Bones, but it's their own separate thing, and they occasionally will switch out who kneels for whom, to reaffirm their trust for one another, but Jim _vastly _prefers to be the one doing the kneeling. Sometimes, Jim will kneel for Bones for hours, and he loves the way the world fades out until the only thing he's focused on is being good, sitting still and waiting until he's told he can move. It isn't always sexual - although _sometimes it_ turns that way_\- _but it _is _peaceful in a way he can't quite understand or explain. 

Bones likes to complain about kneeling on the deck plating being bad for his - and anyone else's - knees, but he'd do it if Jim were to pull rank and ask him to, although they both know that will never happen. He was the first to kneel during the Narada incident, because he'll follow Jim literally anywhere, bitching and moaning the entire way. All of his medical staff have knelt for him at one time or another, but he usually just gets embarrassed and waves them off in a sort of "yeah, great, let's get on with the real work" kind of way.

Spock will kneel for Jim in public if ordered - but again, Jim doesn't. He knelt for him on his return to the Bridge after the conversation in the transporter room with his father because it was symbolic of his acceptance of Jim as a leader, and having grown up on Vulcan, Spock knows all about things being symbolic nad the power of that. 

Sulu takes the whole kneeling thing very seriously at first. It's a matter of respect after Jim jumped off the drill after him on Vulcan, he knew he'd follow him anywhere. He was the second person to kneel after Bones that first time on the Bridge. In the present day, he'll kneel if asked by Jim, but he'll do it with a smirk and a wink most of the time because he and Jim have exchanged countless drunken innuendos about it over the years. 

Uhura has knelt for Jim a few times, and Jim finds it _very _uncomfortable. Over the years they've had a few conversations about what it's supposed to convey, and what Uhura personally means when she kneels, so Jim is a little more at ease with it. She was the third person to kneel on the Bridge after Bones and Sulu. 

Scotty doesn't like kneeling, because he has a lot of issues with authority after being basically abandoned as a form of punishment on Delta Vega. He'll kneel for Jim, and he did during the Narada Incident, but he did it because he was afraid that if he didn't, he wouldn't be permitted to remain on the _Enterprise. _He doesn't ask his engineers to kneel, and he tends to get pretty awkward if they offer it. 

Pavel wasn't expected to kneel until he was 18, but when he was on the Bridge and everyone else knelt for Jim, he just looked around and copied them, because that's what you do when you're younger than everyone else and don't necessarily understand all the social norms just yet. Someone takes him aside and explains it to him later on, and he doesn't kneel to anyone again until he's eighteen, at which point he goes and kneels for Jim to offer his service - which Jim is mostly amused by at this point because Pavel's already been on the _Enterprise _for like, a year by then. 

**Author's Note:**

> Want to know more about Trektober? Click [HERE](https://aishahiwatari.tumblr.com/post/188059640163/trektober) for the info post on Aisha's tumblr, or [HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Trektober2019) for the AO3 collection to read our fic. 
> 
> Come yell at me on [Tumblr](https://demerite.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
